An Unclear Path
by ILOVETOLKIEN
Summary: Follow Clare, an understanding and trusting young elf, on her accidental journey to Alagaesia where she is looked for by many; Galbatorix and others see her as a valuable weapon. Soon, her life turns into a web of complication...will she and her friends survive everything? And if she does, what kind of person will she become? Love triangles, juicy interactions, and more await!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hey readers! So this story was originally written just for fun, but I thought it might be a good idea to post it and share it. The ideas and characters are slightly based on dreams I had. But any characters you do recognize are not mine and belong to their respective fandoms and authors.

Also, be warned: this is a multi-fandom story, which means that there are characters from more than one fandoms here (Percy Jackson and the Inheritance Cycle). If you don't like it, just don't read it. :) Also, the main character (Clare) is an elf, living on Earth...this also came from the dream and is a lot to explain, but hopefully it won't be a big deal. Hopefully it's something different in a good way.

Chapter 1

After a long and rather dry day of work, Clare picked up her files, and drove home in her cute little car. (No surgeries were done today, therefore the day was dry). Once she was home, she washed up and prepared a bowl of noodles. It was great, how eating unhealthy food often wouldn't really make her gain weight or become out of shape.

Just as Clare was settling in to watch some TV with her bowl of noodles, there was a phone call. The caller ID revealed the caller's name.

Scott.

Oh. It was just her little brother. But, it would be nice to hear his voice, after months of not talking to him, or any other family members, except for her sister, Emma.

"Hi, Scotttttt!" Clare exclaimed enthusiastically.

"GUESS WHAT?" Scott yelled right into her ear.

"WHAT?" She yelled back.

"I'm getting married!" After that, there was some more screaming on the phone that was hard to decipher.

Wow. Scott was getting married. For some reason, that came as a shock. But of course he'd be the first one of them to get married. There was the initial oh-I'm-still-single-and-30-but-he's-24-and-getting -married feeling, but it vanished quickly. After the message sunk in, Clare felt a strong feeling of happiness and pride come over her, for her younger brother.

"CONGRATULATIONS! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! I'LL GIVE YOU A BIG HUG ASAP!"

"THE WEDDING IS IN FOUR DAYS! I hope you can make it! Sorry, I forgot to send out invitations before. I meant to, but it's okay. You can come, right?"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss my annoying little brother's wedding. Where is it?"

"Oh, it's in Korea."

"WHAT? YOUR WEDDING IS IN KOREA AND YOU THOUGHT YOU WOULDN'T TELL ME UNTIL FOUR DAYS BEFORE?"

Scott said sheepishly, "Yeah, we were going to have it just here in Victoria, but Lily said she really wanted to have it in Korea. You can still make it, right?"

Clare sighed. That would mean taking a few days off work. And this was on such short notice. Typical Scott... But she couldn't miss her brother's wedding. And that wasn't just it. She would have to get a nice dress for the wedding, reception, whatever else there was. And the plane tickets…

Clare thought, "Okay. I guess family comes first."

"Oh, are you there? Clare? Sister?" Scott asked.

"I'll be there."

"Oh, by the way, I booked and paid for your plane tickets," Scott said. "And we already have a dress picked out for you. Don't worry, Em and Lily picked it, not Mom."

A wave of relief and new joy washed over her. Wow, she didn't see that coming. Now she could take a break from work (she loved work, but a break was always much appreciated). And Scott would be paying for the plane, so what was the worry? A free trip to Korea, wow. Well then…this was definitely a treat.

* * *

"Airplanes are actually so boring," Clare thought as she was reading her book. This was her third hour of being on the plane, and all she could do was read, sleep (in a comfy but confined chair), and look out the window. Three hours of that is no fun. Plus, the man beside her was not helping at all. The man was a small man named Harpreet. He had been fun to talk to at first, but now he had fallen asleep. That was not a problem…but his snoring sure was. Ugh. No. And his stretchy sleeping habits had forced her to move away and squeeze herself onto the edge of the chair.

"Ugh, I wish I could just escape this place," she muttered under her breath.

Right as she said that, the plane took a heavy lurch. Some people gasped. Harpreet stayed asleep. The other passengers started tensing up and whispering to each other.

"What if the plane's running out of gas?" Someone said loudly. This started off a chain of shouts and concerns. "I don't wanna die!" "We're gonna crash!"

Clare felt sweat roll down her forehead. What if she died, right here? Fear took her. It almost overwhelmed her. What if this was the end?

After some scratching on the microphone, an announcement came on. "Passengers, the pilot has just informed me that we are fortunately not out of gas, like some of you are concerned about. However-"

This is when most of the passengers started to freak out and yell. "We're going to crash!" "We're all gonna die!" Not super helpful to anyone at the moment. Clare gulped, trying to calm herself down.

"However," the speaker continued, "We are seeing some unfamiliar cloud activity and harsh wind activity. I suggest that all of you turn ar-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the plane, with all its passengers, was sucked into a cloud. Then all Clare could see was blackness, until she reached unconsciousness.

Review and tell me what you thought!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Clare woke up, feeling achy all over. She was lying down on her side, with the cold wind beating around her. She attempted to get up, but her leg hurt. "It could be broken, or twisted," she thought. It wasn't a bad injury though; with some work, it would be fine. Plus, she was an elf, and she could heal faster than humans. Then, without leaning on her left (hurting) leg too much, Clare lifted herself up, only to fall back down. She felt dizzy and for a moment, her vision was white. After waiting for her eyes to see normally again, she got up and walked around. Where was she? It looked like she was in a nice farming village. Green grass, cows, cute little barns with thatched roofs…And there was no plane around her….

Why did this place look so old? It looked like it could've been from the Middle Ages, seriously. Maybe a little newer, but it still looked nothing like what she was used to seeing. And the plane…it wasn't there…There weren't even remnants or other people. No Harpreet. It was night-time, so the villagers would be sleeping, but where were the other passengers?

After moments of pure confusion, Clare thought to check out how she was. Her leg was hurting, but everything else was fine. Bruises were here and there, but that was to be expected. Her neck hurt a bit too, but with a few good cracks, it was fine. She took off her boots to see if her toes were fine. They were intact. Her pants didn't have any tears, which was a good sign. Her top had a slight rip on the bottom, but the skin under it was unharmed. Her jacket was also unharmed. Good. It was an expensive jacket. And her carry-on bag was perfectly the same as it was before. Slightly worried, she opened it to see if everything was still in it. Yes. There was her wallet, earplugs, some Band-Aids, a tablet, her phone, a notepad, a pen, her camera, and a pocketknife from Charlotte. William's gift was also there: a small bag of fart bombs (he had made them himself). They could both come in handy. Although she had never used the fart bombs before (hey, that meant there was still a huge supply!) she thought they could still save her life maybe once or twice.

But then, she felt something in her pocket suddenly. Hmm. She didn't recall putting anything in her pocket…

"What have I got in my pocket…" she muttered, then chuckled. Hobbit references were always on the tip of her tongue. How funny.

Out of her pants pocket, she dug out a small jewel. It wasn't a very large jewel, but it sure did look expensive and beautiful. It was a deep red color. She studied it closely. Wow, it sure was beautiful. She turned it around and held it up to the moon. It changed color slightly. Clare let out a small gasp. The gem changed colour. Instead of being red, it turned into a multitude of colours. The gem was rainbow-colored. Just to experiment, Clare put it away from the moon. It turned back to red. How strange.

"How did this get into _my_ pocket? Who's could it be?" Clare wondered. For some reason, she felt a strange attachment to it, like she didn't want to let it go, or give it away. She felt like she should keep it safe. Maybe until the right owner came along, she'd hold onto it safely.

She put in into the secret compartment in her bag. It was best to keep it secret. An expensive gem like that could bring lots of unwanted attention and thieves. She kept it in the secret compartment and patted it.

She took out her cell-phone. Maybe there would be service? But no, to her great disappointment, no matter how high she held up her phone, there was nothing. No wifi, no service.

"Great. How am I gonna call for help now?" Clare wondered. This was the middle of nowhere. For all she knew, this could be some creepy cannibal village. These people could eat her. Wow. And they probably wouldn't even be advanced enough to sautee her or grill her or something like that…none of that juicy Hannibal stuff would happen. Well, if this place even was a cannibal area.

She put her bag on and approached a house. It was a simple house with a thatched roof and a wooden porch. It looked cosy actually.

"Well, what cannibal lives in a beautiful house like this?" Clare thought. Perhaps this whole cannibal deal was just nothing to worry about. But she saw something that made her think again.

There was a pile of mail by the door. It was tempting to sift through… Oh, whatever, no one will know that she looked! There were tax letters and such, nothing out of the ordinary. That is, nothing out of the ordinary…except for a strange looking piece of meat wrapped in a brown hide bag.

Clare had no problem with looking at/dealing with organs but…this organ was strange smelling and just…not chicken/pork/beef/lamb/fish for sure. She took a whiff, close to it. It didn't smell that familiar. What could it be? Her mind leapt to many different possibilities. Alligator? Sea urchin?

The sound of footsteps brought her out of her thoughts.

"Hello," a man said warily.

"Hi," Clare said, straightening up, while putting the meat down.

"I see the meat's interested you."

"Not really. I eat like this all the time. I think…" Clare said, trying to act normal.

"Hmm…you're not from around here, are you?" The man said, stepping closer.

"Well…no. I'm just a passerby. I'm leaving soon."

"Surely you can stay a little longer?" The man stepped closer. He was at least three metres away from her now. As he was moving towards her, Clare noticed something that caught her eye. A glint. The man had a knife! She could get mugged. Oh, time to go.

"I gotta go," Clare said. "Bye."

She tried to casually leave, but the man tackled her. He brandished his knife slowly. Before he could sink it in her skin, Clare grabbed his hand and twisted it. He yelped out in pain, and let go of her and the knife, which she grabbed. She stood up quickly and regained her composure.

The man staggered up as well, with an angry glint in his eye. He made his way over to Clare. On instinct, she threw her knife at him. It hit him squarely on his chest. He staggered, holding his chest, attempting to get the knife out. His mouth started bleeding, and he collapsed. After hesitating for a few seconds, Clare walked away. Her first thought, other than "Is he dead?" was to get out of that place. It probably was a cannibal infested place, considering the meat and all. She didn't have a car or vehicle, but she was an elf. She could run. Just as she was about to leave the horrid place, a yell stopped her.

"Wait!"

It sounded like a boy, possibly a man. Either way, it sounded pretty desperate, like he needed help. Well, maybe he was possibly someone's dinner. She looked around for the voice. After turning around a couple of times, she still couldn't find the source of the yell.

"Here!" The voice said again. It sounded weak and dehydrated.

She turned around again. Where was it coming from? Finally, she spotted a boy. No, not a boy. He looked to be in his early twenties. His greasy but beautiful blonde hair shone in the moonlight. He was tied to a post. He looked sickly, like he was going to pass out any second.

"Help me," He said before falling into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Clare took a look at the blonde boy. She quickly thought, "If he's tied to that chain over there, it was probably done by the villagers. The _cannibal_ villagers. So, he probably isn't all that bad. That makes sense!" Actually it didn't really make sense after some more thought. Maybe he was in trouble for stealing someone else's human meat.

But the longer Clare looked at the blonde boy, the more innocent he looked. He was in a pitiful state, with his hair greased up and falling over his face. His arms and legs were decorated with cuts and bruises, while his chest was only covered with a scrap of fabric that was barely even there. He needed help. Maybe he would even die without it.

But…on the other hand… What if after she saved him, if she did, he just ate her (he could be a cannibal too, who knew?) It was never a good idea to take pity on some people, the world being a harsh place and all.

But…he looked so poor and helpless. Perhaps she would save him from this village, and then leave him in a safe place once he recovered.

After many moments of indecision, Clare made up her mind. She took out her pocketknife from her bag and walked over to the boy's slumped over figure. She untied the rope with some difficulty. The rope was too thick for the knife. She sawed through the rope until little beads of sweat started dripping from her forehead. Just as frustration was starting to rise up, the blade cut through the rope. Great. Now there was one more. Ugh, that would take at least one more minute. Not wanting to take that long, in case this sketchy village woke up, Clare worked through the rope even quicker.

While she was doing this, she thought she heard a squeak. She glanced around, frantically, then looked up at the sky. It was dawn.

Clare for sure, did not want a run-in with any more of these cannibals. So she forced herself to work even more vigorously. Finally, the rope snapped. Good. Carrying the guy wouldn't be too much of an issue; her elf-strength was really quite impressive.

Sparing one last glance around the town, Clare saw a window open. Oh, time to go. They were awake. She quickly lifted the boy/man (he was perfectly in between the two) onto her shoulders, adopting the fireman carry. He groaned out of pain softly. Clare made a mental note to herself to try not to move too abruptly. Then, without another look back, she headed off.

It was all smooth sailing until some woman exclaimed, "Where is he?! The boy!"

Which, of course, brought five other people to copy her.

"He's escaped!" "How did he do this?!" Choruses of yells filled Clare's ears. It was really quite terrifying. This boy had better be worth it. Clare tried not to make too much noise. She walked slowly, trying not to stir up any dust, or move any rocks. That would be dangerous for sure.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, Clare saw a knife, headed towards her! If she had been by herself, it would have been easy to escape the knife. But since she had this boy with her, she couldn't roll, she couldn't dodge quickly, or much else, without hurting him too much. She attempted to dodge the blow, but due to lack of time and the boy, the knife dug itself into Clare's side, which resulted in her letting out a half-stifled scream.

She looked around, scanning the area for someone who could've done it. There were lots of open windows. Maybe one of the villagers had thrown it at her, not wanting their precious breakfast entrée to be taken away from them.

"Where do you think you're going with our boy? Our food?"

"Yeah, find your own!" A woman yelled from another house.

Then, from another house on the opposite side, an arrow came flying towards her. Luckily, she dodged this one. It struck the ground two feet away from her.

"He _better_ be worth this_,_" Clare muttered angrily under her breath, adjusting that burden of a boy on her shoulders.

Even with the knife embedded in her side, Clare ran. She was much slower than before, but she was still on her feet. But how long would it last? She'd never had an experience like this before… Not knowing if she could survive this or not, she made her way as quickly as possible to a barn. She leapt over the wooden fence and put the boy onto the back of a large, powerful-looking chestnut horse. She positioned him properly onto the horse in a way that wouldn't worsen his injuries. He moaned in pain. Well, she tried her best.

Then she swung herself as best she could onto the horse, wincing as the knife moved slightly. She couldn't take it out yet, not while she was being chased, because she might bleed too much and maybe die.

She kicked the horse's sides with her feet, which made the horse trot lightly. A trot, seriously? It would have to be better than that.

"MOVE!" Clare shouted at the horse, which made it run. Alarmed, it even jumped over the fence, then it started galloping away from the town.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" A man yelled. Looking behind, Clare saw that there was no one directly behind her. These people really had to step it up; they'd never catch her at this rate.

Within a few more seconds, the horse had already made it to the edge of the town. Clare felt a feeling of relief wash over her. Whew. She had survived the cannibal village. She had survived this terrifying experience in one piece.

The only problem was that she didn't know how to ride a horse, especially while it was galloping at full speed. But on top of that, this horse didn't even have on a bridle.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After an hour or two of riding away from the creepy place, Clare begun to get tired. Her thoughts had started to get hazy after the first forty-five minutes of her escape. Now her state was no better. Right now, she could tell that her wound wasn't fatal, but then again, she was no doctor. Her vision became blurry for short intervals. She felt like she might fall off her horse. She leaned forward and hugged the horse's neck. The horse, seeming to understand, stopped gradually. The place they had stopped was a more deserted area than the town. It looked like a desert almost, but with small shrubs. It was probably somewhat safe. If not, then, it wasn't like she knew where she was going, so to hell with it.

Wincing in pain and letting out a few grunts, Clare carefully dismounted.

"Thanks so much," she told the beautiful stallion. In response, it nudged her all over. "Ouch!" she yelled when the horse's head nudged her side accidentally.

Slowly, Clare looked down at the place her injury was. It was red, bloody, and all that was really visible was the knife protruding from the hole by her rib cage. Okay. She would have to take out the blade. She had never done this before. In the hospital, she had done complex and intense operations, but she had never treated herself, nor had she ever had the need to. Taking a big gulp, Clare put her hand gingerly on the knife's handle. Whoo. This was going to hurt. The thought made her even more dizzy. Wow. How would she save the boy, who looked to be on the brink of death, if she was in this much trouble right now?

Enough thinking, she told herself. Time to work. She sat down and leaned against the horse, who slowly brought itself down to its knees. It seemed to understand the pain Clare was in, and it seemed to want to help.

Without too much more thought, Clare put one hand on the knife hilt, and put her other hand on her rib cage. Leaning her back against the horse, she pulled the knife as hard as possible. It inched out a bit. But after the first inch, it didn't budge, no matter how hard she pulled. She pulled as hard as she possibly could, her eyes squeezed shut with effort. It really hurt. She wanted to stop, but at the same time, she felt like it was just so close to coming out.

"AH!" she yelled, as she stopped pulling and just leaned against the horse. Temporarily, she would rest. Panting, she tried to catch her breath. Her chest was heaving from all that hard work. She didn't know how hard this was. It was a lot like the movies, she thought to herself.

Once her breath and some of her strength came back to her, she braced herself to try again. Okay, this would require a lot of effort. Putting one hand on her rib cage and the other one on the knife hilt again, she, without a single thought of the potential pain she would feel, pulled as hard as she could. Her tendons and muscles felt sore. She thought maybe she would pull a muscle. Just as she was about to stop pulling, the knife fell out of her side, and then flew out of her hand and fell into the ground a few feet away from her.

But there was no time for relief. Of course, her side was still bleeding. It wasn't gushing blood like she thought it would though, to her relief. It bled slower than it did when the knife was in it. She put both hands on her wound to apply pressure. It hurt, but it didn't hurt as much as pulling out the knife did. While she was applying pressure, she used one hand briefly to check through her supplies. All she had were Band-Aids. Seriously? As a doctor, she carried around basic medical First-Aid supplies, but she had left her First-Aid kit in her big suitcase, which was on the plane. What if the wound got infected? Then what would she do? She was in the middle of nowhere, in an unfamiliar place. Was this even Earth?

The horse brought her out of her thinking. It gave her a small nudge. At first, she just thought it was a friendly nudge, but when it kept on nudging her, she was forced to look around.

"Oh, what is it," she said, more to herself than to the horse. When she looked around, she found out why.

The boy/man was now awake, struggling to get up. Clare's first thought was to just leave him there. He could very well be dangerous. He was probably not a cannibal, though. He was going to be the cannibal peoples' breakfast or something, so he was probably another innocent.

At first, the boy didn't seem to notice her. So she kept quiet. Then he said something weakly, under his breath. Clare thought, "He can't be that much of a threat, he's hurt too badly." So she made her way over to him.

He was panting. "W-w-w-water…water," he struggled to get out.

"Oh, of course." Clare looked around. She didn't have any water on her. Maybe the horse would have some strapped onto it. Movies were always showing things like that. The horse's saddle had a few useful objects actually. It had a sword, two daggers (probably a set), some clothes, and…a pouch of water! Just to see if there was more, she checked the other side. While she found no more weapons, she found a few more pouches of water!

"Wa-ter."

Right. He needed water. "Here," she said as she gave it to him.

He gulped it down quicker than a wolf. He spilled at least a quarter of it though, Clare noticed disapprovingly. Some of the water went on his face, some spilled onto his hair, and the rest of it flowed down to his tattered, barely-there shirt.

"More," the boy sputtered, through coughs.

Clare thought to herself, as she was getting the new water pouch for him, that this boy was quite attractive. He was hot. ;)

"Here, but don't drink too much, if that's okay," Clare said.

The boy gulped it down. Within seconds, it was gone. Clare hoped he wouldn't ask for more.

To her relief, he didn't. He panted, and tried to collect his breath. Clare watched him awkwardly while he was doing this. When his breath was re-collected and he seemed to have more energy, he asked with an already stronger voice, "Who are you?"

Clare said, "My name is Clare." The boy stared at her warily for a few seconds. Clare thought, "This boy could be dangerous. Maybe I shouldn't have saved him…

"Thank you for saving me from those treacherous people," the boy finally said. "And I suppose it's fair to tell you my name, since you told me yours. I'm Luke."

Luke…what a nice name, Clare thought to herself. That had always been her favorite name. It matched his face well. She had dated a Luke before…

"Do you come from here? I mean, you probably don't come from that weird village, but I mean, this place is all really unfamiliar to me, so I was wondering…where is this place?" Clare asked, bringing herself out of her short daze.

"I don't know. I'm not from here either. I was just sitting at home one day and I just…sort of got moved to this place when I fell asleep. Unfortunately, I landed in that hellhole. Well, what did I expect with my luck?" He scoffed at the last part. "Where are you from? You look different…kind of…just…different. I don't know, kind of special."

Clare wondered, "Is that a compliment or what?"

She replied with a "I don't know what you meant by that, but I'm from Earth…"

Luke said, "I didn't mean special like, autistic kinda thing. Just exotic. I don't know."

Clare felt flattered. She blushed, but he wasn't looking, so she just said, "So are you from Earth? Because I am."

Luke said, "Wow, Earth. How specific. I'm from Earth too. I'm from New York. That's where I work."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be like that. I'm from Vancouver. You see, I'm from Canada." Clare replied.

"So…thanks again for saving me. By any chance, are you…one of those people…an elf? I've heard stories of elves before, never met one though."

Now it was Clare's turn to be wary. "Yes."

Luke said, "Nice to meet you. Now let's get out of here."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"How much water do we have left?" Luke asked Clare, gesturing at the horse's packs.

"I'll go check."

The two were sitting and going over their supplies together, before their long journey through the desert would commence.

When Clare took a look at the water supply, she was a little disappointed. At first there had been at least ten, but now, there were only about six. It wasn't bad, but this desert area was quite large…how much ground would they be able to cover before they died of hunger and/or dehydration?

"We don't have that much…" Clare told him.

"Yes, but how many specifically?"

Clare sighed and said, "Six."

Luke said, "I had a map, before the villagers took all my belongings away from me. While I was imprisoned, I did some calculations. See, I had my own escape plan and everything, back when I thought I could escape on my own." He looked down for a second. Clare couldn't tell what his expression meant. Then he continued, "So anyway, I had two escape plans all ready-made, but the desert was my second choice. But it's too late now. We're not going anywhere near that place now." He shuddered. A haunted, traumatized look came over him, soon replaced by a look of anger. Clare, seeing his face, felt a sudden pang of sympathy come over her. He shouldn't have to be hurt like this. No one deserved what he must be feeling right now. She wanted to ask if he was all right. But she thought maybe not, because some guys get angry when people see them having issues. So she said, "What's the plan?"

Luke looked up and pretended nothing happened. "I knew that each horse always has ten water packs on their saddles, so I put that into my calculations. Ten water packs was supposed to be more than enough for me alone to get through the desert, if I rationed it properly. At least four packs would be left over. And the food supply would be way more than enough for just me, especially since I know how to ration it just right. And I guessed that it would take about seventeen days, with a horse, to get out of the desert and into civilization. I had this in the bag. But now that we have two people…and now that we only have six water packs left over…" He trailed off. And I don't know how fast you can run. I've done some marathons before at camp, but I don't know if you work out much."

Clare said, "Well, don't forget _I'm_ the one who saved _you_. I can run much faster than you can, I'll bet. Also, I don't think summer camp is going to make that much of a difference."

Luke snorted, "If you'd ever been there, you'd be taking that right back."

Clare asked, half-interested, "What is this camp then?"

Luke muttered, "Oh, you wouldn't know." Clare made an Okaaaay then face when Luke wasn't looking.

"All right then, I guess we should be moving out pretty soon. You should eat something before we start moving," Clare said, noticing Luke's weak (but much stronger than before) state. "What did they do to you?" Then remembering Luke's pained expression from before, she changed it to, "Like, what kind of injuries do you have? Are you just bruised, cut, dehydrated, and starved or do you have any broken bones, anything…"

Luke said, "No, it's exactly what you said. Dehydrated, cut, and bruised. But now that I've had lots of water and rest, the dehydration's gone. My cuts and bruises should be all right; they're not bad. They wouldn't hurt me before they ate me," he scoffed. "But you should eat before we head out. They fed me like a pig before the slaughter, so I'm fine for now." Something stopped him, like he just remembered something. "Hey, weren't you injured?"

Clare said, "Yes… you don't happen to have any disinfectants or anything, do you?" She knew the answer, but she asked anyway.

"I told you, they took away my stuff. We'll just have to hope it doesn't slow us down too much or get infected. But it's fine, as soon as we reach civilization, well, there'll be supplies. But seriously, you don't have anything other than those ridiculous Band-Aids? No bandages?" Luke asked with a slightly teasing tone.

Clare, not seeing the humor, said, "No, that's why I haven't used any."

After a few seconds of silence, Luke said, "Ah, I don't need this shirt anyway. Plus, the sun beats down like a hammer here." Without saying anything more, he peeled off his shirt quickly and said, "There you go, I'll wrap this around your side. I don't need it."

Clare felt the need to look away at his sudden stripping. She turned her head away, which made Luke say, with a cocky, lady-killer smile, "Hey, it's not like I need it. Plus, it's not even a full shirt. You need it more than I do." Then he smiled that smile again.

"Okay…if you really don't need it," Clare replied. She didn't want him to give up his clothes for her, but if he insisted, then she'd take it.

"Here, just sit down and relax. I'll put this around you."

Clare awkwardly sat down and positioned herself in a way that would make it easy for Luke to bandage her up. He knelt down carefully next to her, and leaned forward so that he could reach the back as well as the front. His close proximity made her feel more than slightly awkward. She focused on breathing regularly. This would be very awkward if she didn't…

"Okay, you're going to have to lift your shirt a little. I'll be bandaging your shirt, not your wound, if you don't lift it." Luke said. Clare blushed a little at the thought, which Luke saw. He seemed to enjoy this.

"Arrogant blondie," she thought to herself, wanting to punch him in the face (not really). She prayed that this awkwardness would end soon.

She lifted up her torn shirt, revealing the wound. It was a dark red, and the hole the knife had made was visible under the blood. Luke slowly, carefully, wrapped the shirt around her wound. When he moved to wrap the shirt-bandage around her back, his shoulder would come extremely close to her face. Couldn't he work faster? Clare thought this with a tinge of annoyance. She could feel the heat coming off of his body and his hands. When he accidentally brushed his hand against her stomach, she forgot to hold in her breath. Luke didn't seem to feel any of the awkwardness. Instead, he seemed to be holding back a cocky smile, while _she_ was holding back any involuntary gasps/breaths she might make.

In an attempt to distract herself from the awkwardness he was creating, she studied his shoulder. It was only about a few centimeters away from her face. It was a nice shoulder. It was strong-looking, well muscled. Then, she remembered that she had forgotten to make her breathing regular. Her breathing had become a little ragged. She wondered if he noticed. Suddenly, she felt a flash of pain, and let out a yelp.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, I have to make it tight, to keep the pressure."

"I know, I know, it's fine."

Luke kept on wrapping, but he seemed to be working faster.

_Thank you._

Maybe he finally realized that being cocky was actually not very nice. "Just because you're hot doesn't mean you can go about making people feel uncomfortable with your hotness," Clare thought, thinking back to high school, where lots of guys would make girls feel uncomfortable by being weird and acting like they were super studly. Some of those guys weren't even that hot. At least Luke was. Wait what? What was she just thinking?

Within seconds, he was finished. When he moved away, his warmth moved away as well. She almost wished he hadn't moved away so quickly. Wait, so quickly? What was she thinking, seriously?

She looked at the job he had done. It was good, not too tight but not too loose. She could breathe properly while the shirt-bandage did its job of stopping the bleeding.

"Um…thanks," Clare said awkwardly.

Luke said, "No problem," then walked away with that stud smirk planted on his face.

This was going to be a long, awkward journey.

_Oh, help me Gods…_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Clare hated the sun sometimes. She had always felt this way about the sun. Who did it think it was, bothering them and beating down on them while they were struggling to survive? Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad yet, because they were still just on their third hour. Seriously, if it was going to be like this, this journey would be way worse than she had thought. If she hadn't been injured, she could've just ran and covered a few miles in no time. But she was injured pretty badly, and Luke wasn't going to be able to keep up. For some reason, she didn't want to ditch him. It felt safer, better, having another person from Earth here with her, since this place was so unfamiliar and potentially dangerous.

Clare hated the sun.

"I hate the sun," Clare groaned.

"I don't," Luke said. He seemed to be pretty upbeat. Good for him. He was walking jollily up ahead with the horse by his side. (The horse needed some rest). His step was light and just…jolly. "Come on, if you're going to be down like this, don't show it. Don't make me feel down too."

Mr. Upbeat.

"How are you so upbeat anyway?" Clare asked. "It's admirable," she added.

Luke said, "Camp. Summer camp makes a difference, you see. They taught me to be strong and upbeat in hard times."

Clare said, "I take back the summer camp comment I made. Sorry. Where is this camp?"

"Long Island. Lovely place."

Clare said, "Cool."

They walked on in silence for a while, until they decided that it was time for a rest. They couldn't find any shade anywhere, so they made do with what they could. The horse offered some shade, at least. Luke said, "We won't be able to eat very much, now that we're a duo. I've rationed it."

"Hey, where are we even headed to?" Clare asked. "You had a map, right?"

"I did, but I think I know where we're going."

"What's the name of this place we're going to? I probably won't recognize it, but I want to know anyway." She hoped maybe a name would make this place more familiar. Unless it was some random name fit for a foreign land.

"I don't know actually. The names have blended together in my memory, so I'm not sure what it's called. But I've made some friends there, so I can meet up with them."

Clare wondered, "Are we going our separate ways after we arrive at this destination? Luke has no reason to stay with me once he finds his friends there. She felt a bit disappointed at this. She didn't want to be alone in this place.

She asked him, "You've been here before? How did you make friends? I thought you said you were at home when you were taken to the weird village randomly."

Luke said, "Yeah, but I've got my connections. When I was imprisoned in the village, this one person kept on sending me letters by bird. I suppose I don't know what he looks like, but he told me how to get out of there. I didn't really make my plans and calculations by myself. So we're not friends, but we're…pen pals? Plus he says he knows my mother. He knows stuff about her, details I wouldn't tell anyone. My father too… Trust me, I think this is best."

Clare looked at him warily and thought to herself, "How? Is he even from Earth? This is really suspicious."

"Okay…" she said. He caught her wary look.

Clare said, "How do you know this is the best way? This person who was sending letters could have been a cannibal too. He might not be your friend at all. It could be a trap?"

Luke replied, "I don't know, okay? But I have a feeling. He knows things about my parents. That says something, doesn't it? I'm not saying I trust him really, I just want to know what his connection is to my parents. Feel free to go your separate way now. We'll split the food and water and supplies right now. You can walk away right now. I won't say anything, I won't stop you."

This made her think. What would she do on her own? Two was better than one. But then again, she didn't trust this Luke, so maybe two wasn't always better. What was he thinking, wandering off into some place he's never heard of, meeting someone he doesn't know? But he just seemed to want to know what this person knew about his parents…it was a pretty innocent reason. She decided that she didn't trust him, but she'd go with him. She didn't want to part ways yet. Plus, she could always leave him once they reached civilization.

"I'll stay with you for now." Clare said shortly.

Luke's face changed. He looked almost…happy? Why did he look happy? Awkwardly, Clare said, "Let's get going tomorrow morning. I'm excited to get out of this desert."

After a few awkward seconds of silence, Clare changed the mood. "So what are your parents like?"

Luke said, "Eh, they were never really around much. I spent more time with friends, more time at camp. They were more my family."

Clare looked down, feeling bad for bringing up a sensitive topic. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you didn't like talking about your parents."

"Oh, it's fine. It's nice to have someone asking about them. No one really asks me about them, so it's nice to talk about them. If I don't talk about them, I feel like I'd…lose my connection with them. It's weird; don't ask me to explain it. It's just weird." He paused for a second. "So…what are you parents like?"

Clare said, "Oh, I have great parents." She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about them, since Luke might feel unhappy hearing about how great her parents were, while he never got to know them.

Luke encouraged her, "Keep going. If they're great, I'm sure you have a lot more to say about them." She looked up and saw his face. It was that studly smile again.

Clare hesitantly began, "They're very supportive and they drive me to do well. I wouldn't have gotten this far without them. See, I'm a doctor now, graduated from UBC. It wouldn't have been possible without them."

Luke nodded. "I see. You're lucky."

Clare looked down at her feet. Maybe she shouldn't have bragged about how great they were to Luke. He said he was fine, but he was going to be a little hurt no matter what. "Hey, I'm sorry if that was kind of insensitive, I didn't want you to feel-"

"No, it's not a problem." Then, with a more playful glint in his eye, he said, "So…tell me, do you have any siblings? Tell me all about them, if you do."

"Oh, where do I start? There's Scott and Max…"


End file.
